New Twilight 2000 themed Miniature Wargaming blog!

[The Dark]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

A thought struck me: Have you given any thought (research) to modeling the train from "Going Home"? And might that appear in a post someday?

I haven't looked in the module for a while, but I'm sure there's some technical info on the locomotive, enough to look around the Web to see if someone's produced a model of it.

Off the top of my head, it was a 2-8-2, and I recall from some of my father's railfan magazines that Poland keeps (kept?) a few steamers in operation. One of his friends made the trip to operate such a locomotive within the last decade. Given that, I'm pretty sure there's a model floating around out there. HO scale is 20mm, and N scale = 6mm, right?

The module calls it a Pt-47 2-8-2, which is a PKP class Pt47 (no hyphen). It's a standard-gauge 2-8-2 that masses 93.8 tonnes empty and 104.2 tonnes fully loaded, and has a maximum speed of 110 km/h (and can reach that speed with a consist of 600 tonnes). 180 were built between 1948-1951, and the last was retired in 1988. There were two primary tender families for the Pt47, and both make the train heavier than it is in Going Home. It's either 196.65 tons or 200.73 tons (the newer tender carries more fuel and water, and is thus heavier). The capacities for both water and coal are off - Going Home says it carries 32,000 liters, but the three primary tenders classes were 33, 34, or 27 thousand (the version with the automatic stoker, like Korzub, could only carry 27,000 liters), and the coal capacity was 17 tons, not 9 tons. Also, it's kind of hilarious that the adventure refers to it as a light train, since the Ty2, Ty5, and OI49 all weighed less full than the Pt47 did empty.

One thing lacking from the FF&S rules is a way to build rail vehicles. From what I've been able to find, an article was proposed for Challenge at some point, but was rejected for not being detailed enough. While I have an interest in trains, I don't know enough about them from a technical perspective to write up a design sequence.

[Silent Hunter UK]

Originally Posted by The Dark

The module calls it a Pt-47 2-8-2, which is a PKP class Pt47 (no hyphen). It's a standard-gauge 2-8-2 that masses 93.8 tonnes empty and 104.2 tonnes fully loaded, and has a maximum speed of 110 km/h (and can reach that speed with a consist of 600 tonnes). 180 were built between 1948-1951, and the last was retired in 1988. There were two primary tender families for the Pt47, and both make the train heavier than it is in Going Home. It's either 196.65 tons or 200.73 tons (the newer tender carries more fuel and water, and is thus heavier). The capacities for both water and coal are off - Going Home says it carries 32,000 liters, but the three primary tenders classes were 33, 34, or 27 thousand (the version with the automatic stoker, like Korzub, could only carry 27,000 liters), and the coal capacity was 17 tons, not 9 tons. Also, it's kind of hilarious that the adventure refers to it as a light train, since the Ty2, Ty5, and OI49 all weighed less full than the Pt47 did empty.

Well, Going Home was written in 1986, when it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to get accurate technical data about railway traction east of the Iron Curtain... certainly rail enthusiasts were able to do trips there, but it wasn't easier and pointing your camera in the wrong direction could lead to some unpleasant conversations.

[Cdnwolf]

Following. And N scale is as small as my old hands and eyesight will allow me to model. If it fits in your mouth it is N scale... if it fits down your throat it is Z... and you are an idiot for swallowing it in the first place.

[Silent Hunter UK]

British OO is a bit different to HO, namely a narrower track in scale to the body as it was difficult to fit the motors in the smaller profile British locomotives while maintaining scale.

It would be interesting to use a model railway as a minature battle board... with a train running through it. I read that the Berlin S-Bahn was used during the Battle of Berlin in 1945 for ambulance trains, resulting in the slightly surreal sight of them running through a battle.

[The Dark]

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK

British OO is a bit different to HO, namely a narrower track in scale to the body as it was difficult to fit the motors in the smaller profile British locomotives while maintaining scale.

It would be interesting to use a model railway as a minature battle board... with a train running through it. I read that the Berlin S-Bahn was used during the Battle of Berlin in 1945 for ambulance trains, resulting in the slightly surreal sight of them running through a battle.

One possible plot for such a scenario would be a strike to take out a Soviet nuclear missile train. The RT-23 Molodets (NATO reporting name SS-24 Scalpel) could be carried in a special launch car that was designed to look like a reefer car. A typical launch train had three M62 C-C locomotives (diesel-electric with 6 pairs of driving wheels divided among 2 trucks), three converted passenger cars that were the power generator, command, and support cars, and three missile cars. The engines carry 3900 liters of fuel and consume about 400 liters per hour at speed of 80-100 km/h.

[Jason Weiser]

Done a bit more for the blog since I last checked in, including a weathering and stowage article!

[Jason Weiser]

Much more has appeared on the blog, a terrain article, an article on 6mm miniatures, and a general news article.